Kayla Sinnamon knew her newborn daughter was in pain she just didn't know how to help her.
Sinnamon's daughter, Natalie, was born with hydrocephalus, a condition that causes cerebrospinal fluid to build up inside the brain. Natalie underwent surgery at eight days old to have a shunt installed, but the procedure cascaded into a complication-ridden seven-week stay at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton. Every day, Sinnamon watched her daughter's tiny body writhe, and eventually seize, with the discomfort of each new needle.
Sinnamon knew the needles were necessary, but she wondered: "How can we do it in a way that's better for her?"
She didn't know it at the time, but researchers at the Women and Children's Health Research Institute (WCHRI) and the hospital's medical team were already finding answers to her question.
